Egypt said will reopen the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday and Sunday to in order to end the plight of 200 Egyptians stranded in the Gaza Strip for the past seven months, media outlets reported on Thursday.

The Karm Abu Salem broder crossing, also known as, "Kerem Shalom" will also be open to a small number of Palestinians, especially for those stranded on the Egyptian side and those in need of immediate medical care.

The Egyptian gesture as the Moslem Holy month of Ramadan nears.

While Israel had allowed some goods, such as construction materials, into Gaza, the blockade has remained in place, and the 1.5 million residents of Gaza remain trapped inside, lacking essential medical and food supplies.

The Interior Ministry of the deposed Hamas government in Gaza will clarify later this week exactly who will be allowed to cross.

Earlier this week, The Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak ordered the borders closed late on Monday.

The closure of the crossings violates the terms of the Egyptian-brokered a ceasefire truce on 19 June negotiated by Hamas and Israel, which stipulates that Hamas would halt firing home-made shells into Israel, in exchange of lifting the year-long siege on the Gaza Strip.

Israel will keep border crossings into the Gaza Strip closed to commercial and humanitarian goods "until further notice," Israeli media outlets reported Wednesday.

The Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak ordered the borders closed late on Monday, despite of the ongoing talks to free the captured Israeli soldier in Gaza Strip Gilad Shalit.

The decision, according to Israeli media sources, comes after an alleged violation of the truce deal between Hamas and Israel.

According to a Palestinian source, Israel has violated the truce more than 50 times in the first few days following the begining of truce.
Israel says, Palestinians fired home-made shells at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip.

This closure of the crossings violates the terms of the Egyptian-brokered a ceasefire truce on 19 June negotiated by Hamas and Israel, which stipulates that Hamas would halt firing home-made shells into Israel, in exchange of lifting the year-long siege on the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian demanded Israel to speed up talks and increase efforts to end the file of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli newspaper Yedeoth Ahronot, reported that Egypt’s intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, demanded Israeli officials responsible for Shalit’s file, Amos Gilad and Ofer Diegle, to intensify efforts to reach a swap deal with the Palestinians.

Talks over the swap deal have reached a dead lock two weeks ago, as Israel rejected Hamas’ conditions, however, the source reported that an Israeli delegation headed to Egypt to resume talks earlier this week.

Hamas demands that prisoners with high sentences to be included in the deal, saying that Israel paid a high price to retrieve bodies of dead soldiers in their swap deal with Hezbollah, and it should be ready to pay a higher price to retrieve a living soldier, Yedeoth Ahronot added.

Israeli officials believe that keeping Shalit in Gaza provides protection to Hamas leaders, as local observers believe that Israeli may consider renewing the targeted killing policy against Hamas leaders once Shalit is released.

Israel also continues to target Palestinian residential areas with their machine gun fire. The Shalit’s focus group comprised of a number of Palestinian factions have decided to delegate some people to Egypt to update Egyptian officials with the ongoing Israeli violations of the cease fire agreement, between Hamas and iSrael.

Moreover, Israel continue to seal the Gaza Strip claiming that this would prevent Hamas from smuggling Shalit outside of the coastal region. The closure has be enforced since Shalit was captured in June 2006, resulting in devastating situation in the Gaza Strip.

Over 230 Palestniian patients have died as a result of the closure, for lack of medical supplies and for restrictions on movements of patients to Egypt for medical treatment.

The Israeli defense minister ordered the closure of all Gaza crossings on Tuesday, following a homemade shell landing in the nearby Israeli town of Sderot.

The ruling party Hamas in Gaza downplayed the decision, calling it 'meaningless' on the basis that all the crossings were already effectively closed. Since 19th June, Israel has only allowed limited shipments of goods, commodities and fuel into the coastal region.

On June 19th Egyptian officials brokered a ceasfire between Israel and Hamas, stipulating that Israel should gradually life the blockad whilst the Gaza-based resistance factions, involving Hamas, stop firing shells into Israel.

Abu Yousef, a local leader of the al Aqsa Martyrs brigade, an offshoot of the Fatah party, called for the ceasfire deal to be reconsidered and for the Palestinians to stay united in the face of 'Israeli aggression'.

The Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents continue to desperately lack essential supplies such as cooking gas, benzene, and raw materials, despite the agreement. Israel has allowed about 80 trucks of various goods through into Gaza since June 19th, less than quarter of the Gaza's actual need

Israel enforced the debilitating closure on the coastal territory following Hamas's seizure of the region in June 2007, amidst factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

Israel stated that it would shut all border crossing in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to Qassam shells fired by Palestinian fighters from the Gaza Strip into adjacent Israeli areas, according to Israeli sources.

Military sources in Israel said that a homemade Qassam shell was fired on Monday and hit an area near the Negev town of Sderot. The shell landed in an open area causing no damage or injuries.

According to the Israel army, this attack comes two days after Palestinian fighters fired a homemade shell at the Western Negev; this shell also landed in an open area.

The decision to shut down the border crossing was announced by the Israeli Defense Ministry later on Monday.

This would be the third time Israel has closed the crossings since a fragile truce was declared between the two sides on June 19.

Haaretz reported that Raed Fattouh, a Palestinian official in charge of coordinating the delivery of supplies into Gaza, stated that he was notified by Israeli officials that no good or supplies would be allowed into Gaza on Tuesday.